Oracle aims to shape the flow of mobile data with Tekelec buy

Oracle isn’t quite done shopping in the telecom market. On Monday it announced it is acquiring Tekelec, a company that specializes in controlling the flow of data throughout mobile and wireline networks.

Tekelec specializes in the signaling protocols and load balancing technologies that prevent mobile networks from getting overloaded. For instance, the outages Verizon experienced on its LTE network in late 2011 were partially attributable to signaling overload. Meanwhile, Acme Packet makes session border controllers (SBCs), which manages VoIP and multimedia control traffic that pass between carrier and enterprise networks.

Oracle, however, will get more out of Tekelec than just signaling expertise. Tekelec is also a big player in the traffic-shaping world. Mobile operators use its policy servers to prioritize bits from certain type of applications – and certain subscribers’ – over others. The result is a bunch of things most of you don’t often find pleasant, such as throttling back your data speeds when you exceed your monthly cap or detecting when you use your phone as a mobile hotspot and charging you extra for it.

“Oracle has in the past partnered to provide these capabilities, but by bringing them in-house it will have more opportunity to shape the roadmap and combine the capabilities in a more tightly-coupled solution,” Ovum Principal Analyst Dana Cooperson said in a research note. “Expect Oracle’s telecom-focused competitors (Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei, Ericsson, etc.) and it’s IT-focused competitors (HP, SAP, SAS Institute) to do more strategic soul-searching and, as their financial situation allows, to pursue acquisitions of their own.”